


Summers Like This One

by BigDumbBaby



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Beaches, Drowning, F/M, Fluff, Reader Insert, Tsukki is a mermaid thats it, listen.... this is terrible and i know it.... pls be kind to me, mer-tsukki, mermaid au, thats it tho, there are tw's for:, this uses female pronouns btw, tsukki/reader
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-27
Updated: 2015-11-27
Packaged: 2018-05-03 16:27:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5298260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BigDumbBaby/pseuds/BigDumbBaby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She visits the beach every summer, she stands atop the water feeling like a goddess. Once she slips, and nearly drowns, a certain Tsukishima Kei begrudgingly saves her life, and she later finds out he is a mermaid. They spend their summer days together until they have to part for another year.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Summers Like This One

**Author's Note:**

> this was based off a request sent in to my haikyuu!! imagines blog, but i got carried away with it.  
> "so theres this girl right and she goes to the ocean every year during the summer and one summer she meets mer-tsukki aND YE IT CAN END SAD OR HAPPY WHICHEVER ONE YOU LIKE" was the request.

She stands and listens to the wind blowing throw the trees, turning the leaves like they were pages of a novel that held the reader captivated. She watched the waves roll out onto the beach, turning the sand a muggy brown- she watches them crash against the rocks. She smiles, and slips her shoes off, picking them up in her hand, her other hand clutching a book. She stepped onto the sand of the beach, it was soft and damp and it pressed between her toes.

She makes way towards the pier to the right of the beach, the sand sifting beneath her feet and between her toes. The ocean smells of a child’s giddiness, of sun and salt– an ancient infinity. She thinks it’s all so peaceful, and she loves to be a part of it. She hoists herself up onto the dock, the wooden steps leading up to it having molded and worn away by time. She stands and looks behind her at the footprints she’s made in the sand and feels bigger, feels like she’s grown eight feet and is standing on top of the world. She turns and starts skipping down the pier, the wooden boards creaking and moaning in displeasure. She swings her arms back and forth, and watches the water get deeper with every step she makes towards the end that seems to stretch out farther every time she comes here.

She gets there, though, and she sits. She stares out at the ocean, it stretches out infinitely in all directions, and it laps at the wooden supporting beams and eats at the sun, devouring it slowly as it sets. She feels powerful, standing atop the ocean who does not relent to anyone or anything. She sits at the edge, her legs dangling over the ledge and dips her toes in the cool water, sending ripples out across its surface. She tosses her shoes behind her and lays her book in her lap, leaning back on her elbows. She loves it like this, being alone but not lonely. She surveys her kingdom and feels euphoric and at peace. She lays back and closes her eyes, letting the water lap at her toes and the winds sing her to sleep.

When she wakes up, it’s nearly dark and the water has grown chilly, the air does not smell of sun or eternity. Instead it smells cold and it bites and her skin. She decides it’s time to head back, and climb into bed under a pile of blankets, and starts to stand. She kneels on the boards in a way that make them groan horribly, and she hears a splintering sort of sound, and without warning the planks give out from under weight and she slips into the water.

She’s flailing helplessly, searching for some sort of purchase to grab onto. She coughs and water fills her mouth, her lungs. It doesn’t relent, as the sea does to no one and nothing. She’s panicking, kicking and waving her limbs in all directions and she burns. Her body struggling to take breaths and her letting it- only to be forcefully reminded there is no air for her to breath. Her ears pop, it’s almost as painful as the ache in her chest, in her lungs, it feels like gunshots inside her head. She tries to breathe through her nose, to be harshly reminded yet again that she cannot. She is still flailing and sinking when the edges of her vision start to turn inky and she thinks, ‘ _maybe this is it_.’ She feels small.

With what’s left of her consciousness, she feels something wrap around her wrist and then around her waist. It is cold, but steady and firm, they feel dependable. She looks up and sees the moon, his face avoiding her gaze, and she feels dizzy when she realizes he’s pulling her towards the surface, dragging her towards air.

The next thing she knows is she is vomiting onto the ground, grasping for air, and then retching out the water in her body, then pulling air back in in a terrible, painful cycle. She gags, and continues choking on the oxygen entering her body; as her body demands. She stands up, out of breath, and somehow full of it, and makes off towards home, not looking back at the relentless sea or her kingdom, only wishing to bathe and sleep.

She wakes up the next morning aching and hungry. The sun filters in through her open window and her blankets are tossed haphazardly on the floor when she stands up. She pulls on some proper clothing, and enters into the kitchen to fix a quick breakfast and sees it’s nearly noon. She fixes herself a piece of toast and grabs an apple, a humble breakfast for a ruler of a kingdom, and steps outside.

The sun is high in the sky, smiling down onto the earth and warming the ground. The air smells of salt and seaweed, and the ocean looks so much smaller than it did the day before, kind of far off and distant. She decides that despite the assault the water took on her last night, that she needs her shoes that she left on the pier. She also hopes to get her book back, but fears that it may be lost for good.

She treads carefully, lightly across the wooden planks she so giddily skipped over yesterday. She wonders if maybe this is the last time she will be able to safely stand atop the sea. She soon sees her shoes, they are thrown a few feet back from the edge of the broken planks that snapped from underneath her last night, so she goes slowly, and crawls on her knees.

“Have you come to disturb my waters again?” A voice startles her, and she turns to look behind her and sees nothing. She furrows her brows and reaches out towards her shoes again when her book is placed in front of her fingers.

“You dropped this.” She yanks her hand back, and stumbles back in surprise. She looks towards the direction the book was handed to her and sees a young boy with blonde hair. He holds a deadpan stare, and does not say anything to her, so she does to him.

“Th-thank you…” she picks up the book and her shoes and sits back on her knees, looking at the stranger.

“Don’t fall in this time; I won’t drag you back up again. You were a real hassle last night.” He smirks at her, “I’ll let you drown.”

She scowls, and brightens. “You saved me last night?”

He nods and props his arms up on the dock, resting his chin on his arms. “Yea. You cause me quite a bit of trouble.”

“Thank you so much!” she places her hands on planks and bows to him, “I’m very sorry! I won’t come here again!”

He scoffs, “I don’t care what you do, just don’t drown here. That would make trouble for me.”

She nods and thanks him again. “May I have your name?” He is fiddling with the glasses on his face when he responds.

“Tsukishima Kei. And you?” His way of speaking is abrupt and curt, bordering on rude.

She gives him her name, and he tests it out, rolling it off his tongue in the most beautiful way she’s ever heard her name spoken. He makes it sound like a symphony or a poem.

“It suits you.”

“Is that good, or bad?” He shrugs and smiles sarcastically at her.

“Who’s to say?” She pouts at him and lays on her stomach, resting her chin on her arms mimicking Tsukishima Kei. They are close enough to feel each other’s breath play on their skin.

“I thought you were the moon.”

“Pfft, what corny crap is that? ‘I thought you were the moon.’” He laughs.

“I thought you were a little kid. What were you doing out here so late at night, and why didn’t you just swim up?”

She blushes some, and avoids his gaze, “I come here every summer. I’m not a good swimmer.”

“So you come out to where you cannot touch the ground with your feet to relax?”

“Well, what about you? I’ve never seen you here before. What were you doing out there last night?

“Saving your ass, if I remember correctly.” He pulls his body up, resting on his elbows now. His body is lithe, and moves gracefully.

She frowns and ignores his snide remarks. “Do you want some help up?” She offers him a hand, and he shakes his head, water droplets spinning out of his hair and freckling the wood of the pier.

“That’s no good.”

“Why not?”

“Uh, because I can’t get out of the water?”

She cocks her head and stares at him in confusion.

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t have  _legs?_ ” He states it like it should have been obvious, and he splashes her. “Look.”

She does and what she sees instead of legs kicking in the water and attached to his lower body, is a tail. It was long, and flashy, its scales catching the light from the sun that was also distorted by the moving of the water. It was a magnificent translucent green that resembled seaweed, or the ocean itself.

“Wait, what?” She doesn’t quite fully register what’s going on. “Is this a prank?”

He sighs and splashes her once more, this time with his tail, and she’s drenched. “No, why would I prank you about something like this. Doesn’t that seem childish?”

“So, what, you’re like a mermaid or something?”

“Mmm.” He hums and stirs the water with his tail. “I suppose so.”

She only stares at him, eyes wide and mouth ajar.

“Staring is rude, you kn- OW!” she pinches him, and he glares at her. “What the hell?”

“I’m just making sure I’m not dreaming…” She is still staring at him dreamily.

“Aren’t you supposed to pinch  _yourself_?” He pinches her back, much harder than she did him.

They both sulk at having been pinched, but she is the first to speak again.

“Didn’t my book fall with me?”

“Hmm?” He looks over at the book he handed her previously. “Yea. Like I said, you caused me quite a lot of trouble.”

She picks it up and flips it open. The pages are soggy and stuck together, but it’s in one piece. She clutches it to her chest.

“You didn’t have to go back for it, thank you.” She tucks some hair behind her ear and glances at him from underneath her eyelashes, feeling shy. Tsukishima scratches his cheek, a blush dusting his face.

“Since I went through the trouble of saving it for you, read me some of it.” He demands.

“Well…” she begins, “I don’t mind, but I have to properly dry it first. The pages are sticking together and the pages are transparent now that they’re wet it would be hard to read.”

“So what, I went back and saved something that was useless to save?” he scowls.

“Oh,no I just have to dry it.”

“Then dry it.”

“Well, it will take a little while.”

“I’ll be here tomorrow.” It sounds almost like an invitation, like he wants to see her again. She grins and stands up.

“Then I’ll be back tomorrow. You better be here!”

And he is. In fact, he’s in the same spot he was the day before, it looked like he hadn’t moved at all.

“Tsukishima!” She calls out to him and he looks in her direction, offering only a small wave in welcome. She kicks her shoes off once she is in front of him and dangles her feet precariously over the edge of the pier, forgetting how the ocean nearly swallowed her whole with the sun.

“I’m back.”

“Yea, I see.”

“You’re here, too.”

“So noisy, so early in the day.”

“I just thought you might have swum off, or something.”

“Nope. Right here.”

She smiles softly at him and holds up the book. “I brought it.”

“You don’t have to announce everything to me, I could see it in your hands.”

She flips open to the first page, the pages are stiff and somewhat brittle, but dry. She begins to read out loud. Neither of them notice the sun rising higher and higher above their heads, or the crashing of the waves against the rocks, or the soft blowing of the breeze, carrying the scent of happiness and content on its breath. They both are absorbed in the story playing out before them.

She reads until it is difficult to see, and she looks up, noticing it’s gone dark.

“Oh, it’s getting late.” She sighed almost unhappily.

“Tsukishima looked up at her, smiling softly under the dim light of the setting sun. “Come until you’ve finished reading to me that book.”

She does. She comes for three more days, until the book is finished and the both of them feel vibrant and full, feel empty, like one often does once you’ve finished something they are passionate about.

“That was good.”

“Yea.” Tsukishima agrees.

She places the book beside her and stares out at the ocean, following its reaches until it welds together with the sky. She kicks her foot in the water, the other tucked under her body.

“What should we do now?” She questions him, genuinely curious. She decided she liked having around, he wasn’t draining, despite all the teasing and mocking he does. He fills her with a sort of wonder and excitement that she doesn’t remember having since she was a kid.

Tsukishima hums and swims over in front of her. He takes hold of her ankle and yanks her into the water- into his arms.

“Tsukishima!” She clings onto him. “I told you I wasn’t a good swimmer!”

“If you’re gonna keep coming here, you might as well know how to at least float.” He holds her hands in his own, and forces her away from clinging onto him. “It’s okay, I won’t let go.”

The next week is spent like this, Tsukishima teaches her how to swim, and she learns-albeit slowly. It was as she said, she is a poor swimmer, but she now knows the basics.

The weeks after that were spent in discussion about themselves, about others they knew, and about everything.

“Do you want a bite?” She holds out her snack she brought along with her that day and he shakes his head.

“I already ate.”

“Oh? What’d you eat?”

“Just some fish.”

Her face pales and she stares at him in horror. “Isn’t that like, cannibalism?”

He gives her an irritated look. “How?”

“Well, because you’re a fish eating other fish…”

“Idiot, what do you think fish regularly eat in the ocean? And also, I’m not technically a fish. I’m a mermaid.”

“It still seems weird…”

“It’s no different from you eating chicken or cows.”

She shudders at the thought, and for a minute considers going vegetarian. She remembers the impending date of her departure, though, and shrugs off the thought. She told Tsukishima about it.

“I’m leaving in three days.” She looks down at the water, kicking it with a splash.

Tsukishima is silent for a moment. “For how long?”

“Til next summer.” She feels small again.

“How long is that?”

“About a year. I mean, it’s possible I’ll be able to come down during breaks, but I have to save up money, it’s expensive to come all the way out here.”

“You live far away?”

“Yea, it’s a good distance from here.”

It goes silent again, then they both try to speak at the same time. Then it’s quiet again.

She throws her arms into the air and lays back. “I’m gonna miss you.” She offers him a sad smile.

Tsukishima only stares at her and nods. “Yea.”

“Well, you won’t have to worry about saving me if I drown again.”

“Didn’t I say I wouldn’t save you?”

She laughs and rolls onto her stomach and faces him, much like she did when they first met. Like then, their breath brushes across each other’s cheeks and they look into each other’s eyes. She feels warm, and happy, and sad. Tsukishima reaches his hand up and tucks some hair behind her ear.

“You will come back and see me?”

She smiles at the worry in his voice and nods.

Three days pass, and she’s standing atop the sea, the sun is being eaten by the waves and she feels big, she’s on top of the world. She looks down upon her kingdom, a feeling of grief stinging in her chest at the thought of leaving what feels so much like home after so little time.

She goes to say goodbye to Tsukishima. He is waiting in the same spot like always, looking still as if he never had moved from that spot from the day they met.

He greets her with his usual wave, except this time it seems sad-and it is. He had gotten used to having her around, having some company, having a friend.

“Hey.” She greeted him, smiling softly. She didn’t sit.

“Hi.”

“I’ve gotta leave soon.”

“Yea.” He sulks, pressing his head against the inside of his elbow.

“I got you something.”

He looks at her, waiting. She holds out a book. The book she read to him the first few days of their meeting.

He takes it in his hands and glances at it. “It will get wet.”

“That’s okay.”

“I can’t dry it myself.”

“Then read it while you’re propped up on the pier like now.”

He sulks again, but holds the book to his chest. “Thanks.”

“Hey, Tsukishima?”

“Hmm?”

“You wouldn’t ever actually let me drown.”

At this, he scoffs and rolls his eyes. “I suppose not.”

“You’re so kind.”

“As I always am.”

“Don’t get cocky.”

“I’m not cocky, I’m kind.”

It was her turn to scoff at him, and she does. They both laugh for minute, two, three, before they settle down and listen to each other’s breathing.

“You’ll come back to see me.”

She grins at him, and turns to leave. Waving goodbye to her kingdom, goodbye to the Prince that will rule in her absence.

“Absolutely!”

**Author's Note:**

> forgive me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i wrote this in 2 hours from 2 am to 4 am.  
> ive gotten a few ppl asking me to continue with a second part of this, but idk yet! i dont think it was that good to really be deserving of a second part. We'll see though, if the demand goes up any more ill think seriously about it!  
>   
> my haikyuu imagines blog is imagination-haikyuu.tumblr.com  
> ty for reading this, if you did!


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